Why hello there!
So as of the start of the week I am officially on half term, although really I've been unwinding for about a week already!
As I am scarily already approaching the half way point of my adventure, Jamie and I randomly decided to do something....shall we say, a little crazy...
Skydiving.
I had never been much of a dare devil and never an adrenaline junkie, but being across the world on an adventure of a lifetime has definitely had an impact on me! This is not to say I intend to jump out of planes on a regular basis but the term 'yolo' has a whole new meaning! HA!!
So, the whole 'jumping out a plane at around 12,000ft' thing,..
Jamie and I rang up the company "Skydive Toronto ", which were, may I add, brilliant, midday last Friday and with Thomas on board, packed a bag hours later and headed up on the Go Train to Barrie, a city north of Toronto on a lovely lake called Lake Simcoe.
A 6am wake up call the next morning, a bus down to the Drop Zone and wayhay, we're signing our life away, promising not to sue should we die or something...gulp!
I was partnered with Alec, who I decided was my best friend for the day, him having my life in his hands and all...
We had a bit of training and were told Thomas and I would be up in the first little plane, and Jamie would follow in the next one. At first I was so disappointed I wouldn't get to go up with Jamie, I actually preferred it, she got to watch me and I got to watch her, whereas I had no idea what Thomas was doing, despite him being in the plane with me!!
So about this plane...the plane Thomas and I went up in was TINY and it was actually the worst bit of the entire jump! There were 6 people squashed into this small space, and with about 27 blooming layers on to keep warm, it was quite difficult to move around. The good thing about the little plane though is that I could see out every window and got an amazing view of Lake Simcoe going up and watched as we climbed higher and higher, through the clouds!
We were actually the first plane up of the day, so about half way up, Alec clipped himself to me and opened the door to throw, effectively a long piece of tissue paper out to see what the wind was doing, it was probably much more technical than that but who knows! I was sat right next to the open door! It was cold and windy and I just stared out at the ground below!
The climb to the top actually took around 30 minutes!! Much longer than I thought it would have done, but I had never really thought of it before, I was too focused on the jumping out of a plane bit!
The funny thing was, I was so calm! I didn't feel any nerves what so ever! I think it was a lot to do with the fact Alec really made me laugh, he looked after me, and put me at ease!
It was all a bit of a blur after that! I was clipped up, shuffled forward and pushed out an airplane...
I am so glad I got a video, I wasn't sure it was worth the extra cost at first, but it went so quickly and then it was over! So now I get to re-watch it any time I want! The funny thing was, there was no G-Force, because you're jumping into the wind from a moving plane, you don't feel like you're falling at all! You just feel like you're floating and it's amazing! I think the jump is better told with pictures so here are a few..
Thank you so much to Skydive Toronto and especially Alec, it was such an amazing experience and I will definitely be doing it again one day! For now though, I'm going to have a cozy night in with a cup of tea!
So as of the start of the week I am officially on half term, although really I've been unwinding for about a week already!
As I am scarily already approaching the half way point of my adventure, Jamie and I randomly decided to do something....shall we say, a little crazy...
Skydiving.
I had never been much of a dare devil and never an adrenaline junkie, but being across the world on an adventure of a lifetime has definitely had an impact on me! This is not to say I intend to jump out of planes on a regular basis but the term 'yolo' has a whole new meaning! HA!!So, the whole 'jumping out a plane at around 12,000ft' thing,..
Jamie and I rang up the company "Skydive Toronto ", which were, may I add, brilliant, midday last Friday and with Thomas on board, packed a bag hours later and headed up on the Go Train to Barrie, a city north of Toronto on a lovely lake called Lake Simcoe.
A 6am wake up call the next morning, a bus down to the Drop Zone and wayhay, we're signing our life away, promising not to sue should we die or something...gulp!
I was partnered with Alec, who I decided was my best friend for the day, him having my life in his hands and all...We had a bit of training and were told Thomas and I would be up in the first little plane, and Jamie would follow in the next one. At first I was so disappointed I wouldn't get to go up with Jamie, I actually preferred it, she got to watch me and I got to watch her, whereas I had no idea what Thomas was doing, despite him being in the plane with me!!
So about this plane...the plane Thomas and I went up in was TINY and it was actually the worst bit of the entire jump! There were 6 people squashed into this small space, and with about 27 blooming layers on to keep warm, it was quite difficult to move around. The good thing about the little plane though is that I could see out every window and got an amazing view of Lake Simcoe going up and watched as we climbed higher and higher, through the clouds!We were actually the first plane up of the day, so about half way up, Alec clipped himself to me and opened the door to throw, effectively a long piece of tissue paper out to see what the wind was doing, it was probably much more technical than that but who knows! I was sat right next to the open door! It was cold and windy and I just stared out at the ground below!
The climb to the top actually took around 30 minutes!! Much longer than I thought it would have done, but I had never really thought of it before, I was too focused on the jumping out of a plane bit!The funny thing was, I was so calm! I didn't feel any nerves what so ever! I think it was a lot to do with the fact Alec really made me laugh, he looked after me, and put me at ease!
It was all a bit of a blur after that! I was clipped up, shuffled forward and pushed out an airplane...
I am so glad I got a video, I wasn't sure it was worth the extra cost at first, but it went so quickly and then it was over! So now I get to re-watch it any time I want! The funny thing was, there was no G-Force, because you're jumping into the wind from a moving plane, you don't feel like you're falling at all! You just feel like you're floating and it's amazing! I think the jump is better told with pictures so here are a few..
One of the best things was that I actually got to pull ripcord!
And here I am, back safely on the ground!
Thank you so much to Skydive Toronto and especially Alec, it was such an amazing experience and I will definitely be doing it again one day! For now though, I'm going to have a cozy night in with a cup of tea!
Bye for now,
Peace and Love
Briony x
